I should have known better than to sing the praises of the gorgeous spring weather we’ve been having! Today was cold and rainy. Absolutely miserable. But not snow at least, with apologies to my friends west of me. With rain at least I can tell myself that April early May showers bring May flowers and…

You might have guessed from both my title and my picture that this month’s BundtAMonth did not go as planned. The first problem was that I just did not have many occasions on which to bake a bundt cake, given that I was sick throughout the holidays. Then, when I did make one, I made…

As most of you know, I was gone for a decent chunk of last summer. I tried my best to keep up with blogging–I even became a travel blog for a short while but I did not keep up with the outside world worth a hoot. Major League Baseball passed me by as did the excitement…

You’ve probably noticed that this blog is dessert/baked goods central lately. I don’t like to whine TOO much (sometimes this blog feels like a long list of what infection I’ve had when), but after the appendectomy I did something to my back, caught a sinus infection, and now I have bronchitis. But October is also…

John’s birthday used to be a grand affair. Four days before Valentine’s Day, we usually skipped that holiday in favor of a celebratory dinner for his birthday. Now by big I do not mean rollicking parties or anything, but it used to be I would make no less than 3 S.E. Asian main dishes and…

The previously un-considered dilemmas that arise with small children can be unexpected and tricky. For example, explaining Nazis to a 4 YO who loves The Sound Of Music. Or why the singer in Jace Everett’s Bad Things wants “to do bad things to you” (that was a hoot of a conversation–“Mommy, this is NOT a…

Belated because near the end of Alex’s party on Sunday, when nearly everyone was gone anyway, we had the mother of all thunderstorms, got 2 inches of water in 30 minutes (sending our creek into flash flood), and had a big power surge, which, while we did not lose power, totally destroyed our internet box….

This has been an insane winter. In the space of 2 months, I moved into a new home (that we built), my dog and companion of my entire adult life, the last 13 years, died, my grandma died less than a month later. And I got strep throat–for the first time in 20 years–postponing our…

Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…